Minzu University of China 民族大学简介英文版

Minzu University of China

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Minzu University of China

中央民族大学

Established

1941

Type

Religious

affiliation

National

State Ethnic Affairs Commission

Admin. staff

2,014

Students

15,046

Beijing

,

Beijing Municipality

,

People's Republic of China

Location

39°56′54″N

116°19′03″E

39.94833°

N

116.3175°

ECoordinates

:

39°56′54″N 116°19′03″E

39.94833°

N

116.3175°

E

Campus

Former

names

Website

Urban

Central University for Nationalities

Minzu University of China

(

Chinese

:

中央民族大学

;

pinyin

:

Zhōngyāng Mínzú

Dà

xú

e

) is a national-level

university

located in

Beijing

,

China

designated for

ethnic

minorities in China

. Minzu University is the top university in China specially for

ethnic minorities and aims to be one of the best universities of its kind in the world.

With the strong support of Chinese government, it has developed rapidly over the

years. It is currently one of the most prestigious universities in China in fields of

ethnology, anthropology, ethnic economies, regional economics, religion studies,

History, Dance and fine arts. The university has been selected as one of 38 national

key universities to directly receive funding from

Project 211

and

Project 985

, aspiring

to build herself into a worldwide known leading university. It is commonly regarded

as one of the most respected institute for higher learning in China. It is colloquially

known as

Mí

ndà

in

Putonghua

. It was formerly known in

English

as the

Central

University for Nationalities

(

CUN

).

Contents

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1 Name

2 Academic programmes

3 History

4 Weigongcun

5 Notable students and faculty

6 See also

7 References

8 Sources

9 External links

[

edit

] Name

The Chinese name has the meaning

national-level university focused on serving minority ethnic groups. The old English

name translated the ethnic term as

German

and

Russian

language

Marxist

texts. On 20 November 2008, the university changed

its official English name,

[1]

apparently citing concerns that

location in the geographical centre of China (as it does in

South-Central University

for Nationalities

), and the old name did not sound good. The name change of

Renmin

University

has been cited as a precedent. The new name obscures the university's

ethnic character, although student opinion has focused more on the fact that it makes

obsolete the university's nickname,

(

Chinese

:

村

;

pinyin

:

cūn

) has a

Hanyu pinyin

spelling similar to the English

abbreviation

[2]

In mainland Chinese culture,

villages

have homely

connotations.

[

edit

] Academic programmes

The university awards

undergraduate

-level degrees in 55 academic subjects, usually

after four years of study. There are also 64

master's

programmes and 25

doctoral

programmes. While young people from the majority

Han

group are the largest single

ethnicity amongst the fifteen thousand students, 60% of the students and more than

one third of the academic staff are from other nationalities.

By far the strongest research areas are

anthropology

and

ethnology

, which are the

mainstays of its small publishing house and journal. In 2001, the

People's Daily

described CUN as

[1]

Other respected

departments are the

dance

school and the various minority language and literature

departments. Other subjects are often studied from the ethnic minorities' perspective,

e.g., biology courses may focus on the flora and fauna found in ethnic minority areas

of China.

Minzu University also participates actively in

social sciences

research. Its social

science departments predominantly do their research with an ethnic perspective and

has achieved leading research results in China in ethnic economies, regional

economics, legal studies in ethnic minorities regions, ethnic administration. In

particular, its economics, management, law and history departments are growing into

be dynamic research institutions with the help of

Project 985

.

The university is the pinnacle of a national network of institutions maintained by the

State Ethnic Affairs Commission, although academic standards are also monitored by

the

State Education Commission

, which means some students end up sitting for two

sets of exams.

In English-speaking countries, Minzu University's main partners are the

University of

East London

,

United Kingdom

, and the

Oregon University System

USA

.

[

edit

] History

The

Communist Party of China

first established a Nationalities Institute in its

Civil

War

stronghold of

Yan'an

, in central China, in October 1941. In 1950-1952, this was

merged with other ethnolinguistic and sociological departments, including elements of

Peking University

and

Tsinghua University

. The result was the Central Institute for

Nationalities, which officially opened on 11 June 1952. The Institute was assigned a

large area of parkland on the outskirts of

Beijing

as its campus.

Both the Yan'an and Central institutes were intended to train cadres (officials) for

ethnic minority areas, as well as providing a

liberal arts

education for promising

students from the minorities. Their research was and is intended to support the

policies of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. In its early years, the Institute was

caught up in the sensitive issue of classifying China's vast population into official

ethnic groups, until the

Cultural Revolution

made conventional education almost

impossible.

With the advent of

Deng Xiaoping

's reform and opening up policy (c.1978), the

Institute went through considerable changes. On the downside, it lost most of its

campus to a variety of development projects and it is now in a heavily built-up area.

Financial pressures in the early 21st century led to a rapid rise in student numbers,

particularly of Han students.